Chef Eudes, the giant of São Sebastião – 02/24/2023 – Cozinha Bruta

It rained throughout the early morning and morning of Carnival Sunday in São Paulo. In the city of São Paulo, to be specific.

Here, on top of the mountains, the downpour in Macedonia was a perrengue for anyone wanting to go out on the blocks – or, for me, a reason to take a nap after waking up hungover and drinking coffee.

Folha, still very early, reported that the Rio-Santos highway, near Ubatuba, had been blocked for a 25-kilometer stretch. Something very sinister was happening on the coast, but it reverberated very little in the capital until around lunchtime.

Despite the ocean being right there, it is bizarre how the Serra do Mar barrier still imposes itself: the sky collapses, the roads collapse, the cell phone signal drops, and communication between the beach and the plateau goes back to the 19th century.

I began to realize the dimension of the tragedy in São Sebastião with an Instagram post by Eudes Assis, chef Eudes, who owns the Taioba restaurant in the hinterland of Cambury. He wrote:

“Situation of public calamity here on the North Coast. In my 46 years of life, I’ve never seen anything like it around here.”

And he already announced that he would close the restaurant to prepare lunchboxes for the victims of the rain, in addition to asking for help and donations.

Chef Eudes’ appeal spread through social networks –first, among chefs and gastronomy people, then among artists and santaceciliers alike– before professional press portals reported the catastrophe with official figures.

This is not a criticism of the press: as a journalist, I am well aware of the responsibility to get the facts right before publishing. This is a compliment to chef Eudes, who stands out in the coastal tragedy as a great community leader.

Eudes is a rare bird in the field of gastronomy. By its origin, obviously. Not white like 95% of chefs of the same caliber. He didn’t study at an elite school. He’s not a daddy’s boy or a banker’s friend, he didn’t get a set up restaurant.

Chef Eudes is from Caiçara and mestizo, raised in the same magnificent landscape that we, São Paulo residents, invaded to play Hawaii – expelling the traditional populations to the perilous slopes.

He worked at Fasano, studied in France and was not dazzled. He did what no one else had done before: he returned home and served high-quality caiçara food, at affordable prices, to the invading vacationers.

A native of São Paulo, when he goes down the mountain, he likes to pay a fortune for salmon poke and shitake bruschetta with truffle oil, at the low-key restaurants of other São Paulo residents. Eudes managed to break this logic: he trained his people and is making part of the money circulating among the caiçaras.

The chef dedicated himself to Projeto Buscapé, which supports children and teenagers on Boiçucanga beach. There is the kitchen that has already delivered thousands of meals to those homeless from the rain.

Eudes Assis, a small, soft-spoken man with a gentle manner, proved to be a giant in the tragic Carnival of São Sebastião.

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